Are your balls pink???????

Ahem, I know the title of this post sounds really cheeky and boasts of gay overtones. Those of you who have begun celebrating my-coming-out-of-the-closet can come back to earth. I hate to spoil your party but then it’s not about me nor does it have to do anything with the queer eye. Now as MJ sez lets keep things in the closet and go to the reason for this post. Batsmen often have trouble spotting the white ball in ODI cricket towards the death overs. There have been various strategies proposed such as a different ball at each end and the now implemented 35over change. Research has led to a conclusion that pink colored balls tend to retain their color and are easy to spot by batsmen and TV cameras.

The MCC, who are responsible for the laws of cricket, have been testing different colours for the last year, Their head of cricket, John Stephenson, is responsible for the innovation and he told The Times: “Paint tends to flake off white balls and we have asked Kookaburra to produce a batch of pink ones because these show up so much better.

“The challenge is to produce a ball which retains its colour – I doubt it will be any more expensive to produce or buy. I have asked Mike Gatting, the ECB’s managing director of cricket partnerships, to use them in county second XI one-day matches, but we shall start by trying them in fixtures such as MCC v Europe and in the university matches we sponsor.

“My aim would be to use the pink ball in Twenty20 cricket in 2009 and thereafter in one-day international cricket, but this will be dependent on trials and what the ECB thinks.”

Scientists will also test the pink balls for television: orange ones used before left a trail in the dark. Gatting added: “We are trying to make cricket a better game for the players and television and have got past looking at it from a traditionalist’s view.”

Of all the colors in the world why did they have to pick pink? I agree that blue, brown etc are out of question, but what harm has yellow done? I am all for the charge of the yellow brigade! Lord Gatting has probably lost it after being flummoxed by Shane Warne’s ripping leg break which is often referred to as the ball of the century. After Kerry Packer dressed up the mighty West Indies in pink pyjamas, the Caribbeans graduated to maroon. 30 years later, the color will once again be seen on a cricket pitch! You’ve got company SRK, the ECB also subscribes to your tees-saal-baad theory….